This invention relates to the art of conveying articles along a predetermined path, and more particularly to neck ring apparatus for conveying and manipulating an initially formed glass parison along a predetermined path as the parison is transformed into a final blown article having a desired finish formed by the neck ring, and for releasing the finished article at a desired location.
In the formation of hollow glassware, a charge of molten glass is usually initially formed into a parison, such as by pressing or blowing such charge within a parison mold, and the thus formed parison is then conveyed or transported along a predetermined path to a blow mold for blowing the same into a finished article. During its travel along such predetermined path toward the blow mold, the parison may be subjected to thermal conditioning such as heating or cooling, and the parison may be provided with initial puffs of forming air.
The use of conveyors such as orifice plates or neck rings for transporting parisons along predetermined paths has been known in the art as shown by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,263,126 and 3,622,305. U.S. Pat. No. 2,263,126 discloses the use of an orifice plate which receives a preformed patty or parison which is conveyed along a predetermined path to a blow mold and a final crack-off operation for removing the finished article. As the orifice plate moves along the predetermined path, a blow head initially pressably engages the patty about the orifice of the plate upon which it is positioned and provides initial forming puffs of air as the parison elongates through the orifice. The orifice plate is rotated during the initial forming and during the blowing of the article into its finished shape within the blow mold, whereupon the orifice plate retaining the finished article is moved onwardly to a crack-off station wherein the neck of the ware is cracked off from the moil or cullet retained on the orifice plate, thus producing a blown article with an unfinished neck portion. The neck ring of U.S. Pat. No. 3,622,305 is moved along an endless flexible conveyor such that the neck ring transports parisons from an initial parison forming station, past a preliminary treating unit, onto blow molds for blowing finished containers, and then away from the blow molds to a removal conveyor. Although the neck rings of such patent are openable to release the finished article, they are not rotatable and do not open to accommodate the charging of a parison mold.
The present invention overcomes the problems of unfinished finish and neck areas occasioned by crack-off operations by providing a neck ring mechanism having an openable split neck ring facilitating the manufacture of articles having finished neck and finish areas, and further overcomes the problems of forming ware with mold seams by selectively rotating the neck ring segments during the blowing operation.